Robert Percy Dr. med. Marshall, MMA

🍒Mʏ ꜰɪʀꜱᴛ ꜱᴇᴀꜱᴏɴ ᴀᴛ AFC Bᴏᴜʀɴᴇᴍᴏᴜᴛʜ ʜᴀꜱ ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴀɴ ᴇɴᴅ🍒

And what a season it has been.

⚽️ Europa League qualification.
⚽️ Third team ever in the PL history not to have lost in 6 months.
⚽️ Highest points in a PL campaign for the #Cherries.
⚽️ Among the highest athletic outputs in the league.
⚽️ Approval of the new stadium.

Results that make everyone proud. But behind those numbers sits a story that is perhaps even more meaningful.

This is a club that is going through transition and development. Proof that #tradition and #innovation do not have to be opposites.

A shift from a traditional UK football environment, shaped by increasing influences from US ownership and another transition driven by European football perspectives.
※ Different backgrounds.
※ Different experiences.
※ Different ways of thinking.

🍒Creating our own Cherry-Way combining the best of all worlds.

Growth is about more than performance alone:
🍒Maintaining identity.
🍒Building culture.
🍒Building values.
🍒Building purpose.

🍒Creating alignment across people, departments and ideas.⚽️

For my department this specifically means trying to create an environment where health, resilience and performance are not separate entities, but one connected system.
But also…
⚽️ Strengthening Performance #Data Science.
⚽️ Strengthening #Nutrition.
⚽️ Strengthening #Psychology.
⚽️ Turning our Academy into Category 1.
⚽️ Professionalising Medical & Performance within the Women’s Department.

Our #goal is to make this growth sustainable.
Proving that our #success is not a mere coincidence.

But growth means change as well. Staff members will join, others will leave. A big thank you to Andoni for the trust, collaboration and contribution throughout this journey. And an exciting welcome to everyone who will come on board.

This leaves me with great gratitude:
🍒 for my incredible department.
🍒 for the trust.
🍒 for the support.
🍒 for the way I have been welcomed from day one.

The first chapter has finished.
But there are still many pages left to write.

Together, anything is possible.

🍒 Up the Cherries.

#DocPercy #Sportsmedicine

🦷 Oʀᴀʟ Hᴇᴀʟᴛʜ ɪɴ Pʀᴏꜰᴇꜱꜱɪᴏɴᴀʟ Aᴛʜʟᴇᴛᴇꜱ🦷

One of Flick‘s first actions at Barcelona was sending his players to the #dentist.

Common perception is that professional athletes are the ideal example of perfect #health.

💡Why was this? Is it worth questioning this hypothesis?

Olympic data already showed surprisingly high rates of dental caries and periodontal disease, with athletes reporting negative effects on wellbeing, training and #performance.

In #Sportsmedicine we screen:
🧠 Brain health
🦠 Gut #microbiome
💪 Muscle recovery
🩸 Biomarkers

But perhaps we should also discuss:
🦷 The oral microbiome

The oral cavity is not simply the beginning of digestion.
※ It is an immune organ.
※ A microbial ecosystem.
※ A possible inflammatory driver.
※ And potentially part of the performance equation.

🦷Emerging data in #football showed players with poorer oral health presenting more non-contact injuries and muscle problems, although larger studies are still needed.

It all makes sense though. Because the mouth is not isolated. In fact, oral dysbiosis may influence:
※ Systemic #inflammation
※ Cytokine activity
※ #Fatigue perception
※ Recovery
※ Potentially even injury susceptibility

And the „typical“ athletic lifestyle might have their share in this:
※ Frequent carbohydrate exposure.
※ Sports drinks.
※ Reduced salivary flow during exercise.
※ Mouth breathing.
※ High training loads.
※ Stress.
※ Altered immunity.

Yet another important area that deserves attention in this context is #snus use. We see increasing numbers of snus-consumption throughout all athletic disciplines though. Local nicotine exposure causing local tissue irritation, vascular effects and potential changes in the oral environment may contribute to oral health problems. Whether this explains part of the high prevalence in athletes remains an open question.

Our recently published work on professional soccer and ice hockey players adds another piece to this puzzle.

🦷We observed that oral health issues remain highly prevalent across professional team sports like ice-hockey or #football.

Maybe it is time to stop seeing oral health as “the dentist’s problem” … and start seeing it as a #performance variable.

If we accept the importance of the microbiome in performance, we need to recognize: 
🦠The microbiome starts earlier than we think.
🦷It starts in the mouth.

Maybe the future conversation in sport is:
Performance ↔ Mouth ↔ Gut ↔ Systemic health

Proud of our new #publication as part of my research-collaboration with the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg.

Schwesig R, Born P, Kurz E, Schulze S, Panian M, Marshall RP, Bartels T, Wienke A, Gernhardt CR. Oral Health Conditions and Physical Performance in Two Different Professional Team Sports in Germany: A Cross-Sectional Study. Sports (Basel). 2025 Jun 25;13(7):206. doi: 10.3390/sports13070206. PMID: 40711091; PMCID: PMC12299959.
https://lnkd.in/eN2-J3iR

#DocPercy #Salutogenesis #Prevention